Brief Summary

Rather small flies, rarely more than 6 mm in length, the auxiliary vein entire and ending in the costa.

The adults may be found almost everywhere, but particularly in moist places where they may occur in large numbers. Many of the species are more in evidence in the evening than during the rest of the day. They are not very active and are therefore easily captured.

The larvae of at least some of the species mine in plants and are economically important; others live upon decaying vegetation.